Blood-brain barrier studies may lead to breakthrough in AE

October 3, 2017

We are encouraged that researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in NY, NY recently published a review article, bringing together many facets of research on how antibodies and other types of immune cells are able to cross the blood-brain barrier and gain access to the brain, causing autoimmune encephalitis. They stated that these routes of entry are important to study as potential therapeutic targets. Future treatments may consist of medications that directly affect the permeability of the blood brain barrier (BBB). They cite many interesting studies that hopefully will lead to agents that have the ability to “repair the damaged barrier, translating to improved clinical outcomes in AE patients by limiting influx of blood-borne immune cells, cytokines, and/or antibodies.” For the scientifically-minded, to read their well-referenced publication (145 references) in Frontiers in Immunology, April 2017, please see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5399040/